An Empirical Study On The Correlation Between Non-english Major Postgraduates' English Learning Motivation And Learner Autonomy

With the rapid development of society and the advocate of life-long learning, fostering learner autonomy becomes the hot topic in the field of foreign language teaching and many scholars have contributed to the study on it. The researches on it are from different perspectives, some aim to define the term, some are to introduce its'theoretical foundation or the characteristics of autonomous learners, while there are still others that explore the ways of fostering learner autonomy. However, the relationship between learner autonomy and learning motivation is a rarely touched topic. Although there are some researchers who realize the close relationship between the two variables, their studies are mainly about one question that"Learning motivation and learner autonomy, which leads to the other?"So far, there are few empirical studies on the relationship between the two especially taking non-English major postgraduates as the research subjects.So the current study attempts to explore the relationship between learning motivation and learner autonomy among postgraduates by the employment of quantitative method. Meanwhile, it also explores the difference in learner autonomy between learners with high and low English learning motivation. Altogether 116 non-English major postgraduates from Hebei University of Science of Technology took part in the current study. Learners'learning motivation is measured by the use of Learning Motivation Questionnaire of Gao Yihong et al. (2003). While their autonomous English learning competence is investigated by the Learner Autonomy Questionnaire of Xu Jinfen et al (2004). By the employment of SPSS13.0, the data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed. The results got from the study are as follows: (1) Non-English major postgraduates don't have high autonomous English learning competence and they have the highest competence in knowing teaching purpose, but they behave the worst in the monitoring of the learning process. (2) Non-English major postgraduates'English learning motivation is also just at a medium level. Their strongest motivation is motivation of individual development and their motivation of intrinsic interest is the lowest among the seven types of motivation. Non-English major postgraduates learn English mainly for their future development, such as finding a good job and so on; they have little interest in the English language itself. (3) In regard to the difference in learner autonomy between high level and low level motivation groups, the result of the independent sample T-test shows that the two groups differ significantly in their autonomous English learning competence. Learners with high motivation are more autonomous in the English learning process. (4) There exist significantly positive correlation between learning motivation and learner autonomy, and learner autonomy significantly correlates with each type of learning motivation, expect motivation of learning situation. That is to say, the higher the learners'English learning motivation, the more autonomous they are in the English learning process. Besides, the regression analysis shows that motivation of intrinsic interest can best predict learner autonomy level.The research findings suggest that college English teachers should create a learning atmosphere that is in favor of autonomous English and teachers should play as a facilitator rather than a leader. And also learners'learner autonomy can be fostered through the cultivation of their intrinsic interest in English and through the improvement of their motivation of communication media.